An engine power generation device that has an engine and a power generator driven by the engine is known. The engine power generation device can be easily installed when power shortage occurs or power load increases. In addition, since the engine power generation device is a distributed power generator, it does not need a power grid. Thus, the demand for the engine power generation device is increasing in newly developing countries. Even in advanced countries, emergency power is required in preparation for disasters. Thus, the demand for the engine power generation device is increasing domestically and globally.
However, although the demand for the distributed engine power generation device is increasing, skilled assembling workers unevenly distribute especially in developing countries. Although major components such as an engine and a power generator are unitized, the unitized engine and generator have to be connected with pipes and so forth on site. In addition, the skills of assembling workers largely vary country by country. Even in the same country, the skills of assembling workers vary region by region Assembling times vary depending on the skills of assembling workers.
Although major components of the engine power generation device are unitized, since the engine power generator device is a middle-size power supply, it takes some days for assembling and adjusting the engine power generation device. Thus, such an engine power generation device does not satisfy emergency power demand in disasters.
In addition, although the major components are unitized, they have to be connected with pipes and cables. Thus, when the engine power generation device is assembled, pipes and cables have to be inevitably routed.
To solve such drawbacks, a technique in which a container for marine transportation, land transportation, or air transportation is used for the engine power generation device, namely a container loading device in which an engine and a power generator driven by the engine are disposed adjacently in a container, is disclosed to as to allow the device not to be assembled and adjusted on site (this technique is an underlying technique of Patent Literature 1).
However, if a plurality of units such as an engine and a power generator is contained in one container, exhaust gas has to be discharged out of the container. As described in Patent Literature 1, a silencer (muffler) has to be disposed on an upper wall of the container above the engine through an L-shaped pipe. However, in this case, only the muffler protrudes from the upper wall of the container. As a result, an overall height of the container becomes greater than the limit specified by the relevant standard. Thus, a truck that carries the container may not travel on public roads.
Thus, the muffler is normally designed to be dismounted from the container. When the device is assembled on site, the muffler is mounted on the device. In this case, the number of assembling steps on site increases. In addition, since the muffler protrudes outside the container, the muffler is likely to vibrate and make noise while the engine power generation device is operating.
Even if the engine power generation device uses a highly efficient gas engine, since it uses natural gas-fossil fuel, from a point of view of energy saving and CO2 saving, co-generation that effectively uses exhaust gas of the engine and waste heat of cooling water has to be considered.
Thus, many power generation devices that use co-generation have been developed. In these device, waste heat of the engine is actively used. Heat of exhaust gas is transferred to a boiler. The boiler generates steam. In addition, cooling water is heated by the engine. Heat of the cooling water is transferred to a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger transfers heat of the cooling water heated by the engine to clean water and generates hot water (refer to Patent Literature 2).
However, sizes of containers loaded on ships, trucks, and so forth are generally standardized and specified by the ISO standard. According to the standard, there are only two sizes of the containers—20 f (6 m) and 40 f (12 m) (although containers having a length of 45 f have been standardized, they cannot be conveyed under the current Japanese Traffic Laws). In addition, the width and height of containers are standardized as 8 f (2.4 m) and 8.6 f (2.6 m), respectively. Thus, in containers having a length of 40 f (12 m) and a length of 20 f (6 m) that can be conveyed on Japanese public roads, they are long in a longitudinal direction, but they have a narrow width of 8 f (2.8 m) and a low height of 8.6 f (2.6 m).
If a long container having a length of 40 f contains a hot water generating heat exchanger that generates hot water and a boiler that generates steam as well as an engine and a power generator, the space for the engine has to be accordingly decreased. Thus, the rating of the engine power generation device is unavoidably lowered in comparison with the space of the container. As a result, if many units such as the boiler and the heat exchanger as well as the engine and the power generator are disposed in the longitudinal direction of the container, since the units contained in the container have to become small, the required power output cannot be obtained.